always learning

After an excellent session with parents about cyberbullying and an equally excellent session with our staff discussing the Frontline documentary Growing Up Online, I’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility. As in:

• Whose responsibility is it to teach students about the dangers of social networking (not only physical danger from online predators, but the danger of getting college applications rejected or the danger of getting kicked out of school)?
• Whose responsibility is it to help parents stay informed about these new methods of communication?
• Whose responsibility is it to ensure that students learn how to have successful, productive, and educational online experiences?

I’ve been noticing that many teachers are happy to be ignorant of what goes on online – that “out of sight, out of mind” mentality – which really worries me. I mentioned to Miguel in a twitter a few weeks ago that some really appalling student behavior has been going on for quite a while now, which actually made a little bit relieved to see that cell phone scandal hit the press in the US. On one hand, I can understand just how damaging that kind of press can be to a school trying to implement progressive learning practices, but on the other hand, aren’t these things we need to be talking about? Aren’t these issues that parents need to know about? And aren’t these issues that students should be learning how to stay away from?

I wonder how many schools are talking about this as a whole? Justin, Dennis and I were just discussing how great it would be to watch Growing Up Online as a whole faculty and then have some smaller break-out sessions to discuss what we saw. How many teachers are going to say: “our kids aren’t doing that kind of stuff!” And how many are going to say “that’s a parenting issue, not a school issue”? How many are going to say: “I need to embed authentic learning experiences into my curriculum which help students build their understanding about online safety and appropriate behavior”?

If learning has become increasingly social, and networked learning is on the horizon as the future of education, as so clearly described in the recent Educase article: Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0:

The most profound impact of the Internet, an impact that has yet to be fully realized, is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning. What do we mean by “social learning”? Perhaps the simplest way to explain this concept is to note that social learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning….

This perspective shifts the focus of our attention from the content of a subject to the learning activities and human interactions around which that content is situated.

Then we need to be aware, actively involved, and responsible for teaching students and parents how to participate in these new communities – even if so much of their activity online has been for purely social purposes until now. Isn’t it our job to teach them how to take this social environment and use it for educational purposes? When I think about how powerful my PLN has been for my learning, I can’t imagine not including those experiences in my teaching. This is truly the Future of Learning in a Networked World, isn’t it?

At the beginning of this school year, when I was still adjusting to life in elementary school, I remember realizing just how lucky I am to have switched to elementary. This is the time when I can really make a difference. Students are excited about learning, they haven’t developed many bad habits, they still adore their teachers, they still enjoy having their parents watch over them while they play online, and they are still open to asking questions and discussing the possible outcomes. It is so essential to reach our students before they begin to pull away, to become more independent, to become more reluctant to share all aspects of their lives with the adults around them, in essence, to become teenagers.

This week I worked with a grade 3 class on our BlogPals project. We are using this project to develop our reading and writing skills – through the lens of connecting with others, creating a social learning environment. We are taking the time to teach them about online safety and appropriate behavior, and our third graders are responding with energy, excitement, enthusiasm, inquiry and understanding. This is the time to start developing appropriate behaviors, and I believe it’s our responsibility to teach them.

What do you think?

Tags: Tags: responsibility, onlinesafety, socialnetworking, growinguponline, frontline, pbs, educase, mindsonfire, social, learning, parents, elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, internationalschool, flatclassroom, collaborations, blogging, grade3, blogpals, flnw08

Given some time to reflect over the holiday break, I’ve been thinking about the essential structures that must be put into place for a successful technology integration program (or, as I would prefer to call it, a 21st century school). I started really thinking about this last year, when my then-tech director, David Sinclair (now at Taipei American School), and I started building a framework for our integration program.

This is now the third international school where I have helped institute a fully integrated technology program, and between my experiences in Munich (before the blog), my work with David at M’KIS and the planning that we’ve put in place here at ISB, I’ve realized that schools need:

• to take away the typical barriers to success
• a vision and essential understandings for 21st century literacy and technology integration,
• supportive administration that is willing to change and make a leap into the future
• a mandate for change (and clear expectations for teachers, administrators, and facilitators)
• a framework for embedding technology and 21st century literacy
• a transparent process for documenting success
• consistent communication with parents
• a technology facilitator and/or 21st century literacy specialist that has enough time (and resources, and support) to work with each of these teachers on an individual level.

And then of course, there’s the teachers…

Clearly there are so many pieces to this puzzle that it’s no wonder that those of us truly excited about the possibilities are feeling alone, frustrated, exasperated, discouraged, even if we are learning from our mistakes. We try to bring change to our schools, often at the individual level, only to see those ideas fall apart at the seams. We try to push departments froward with curriculum redesign, only to become overwhelmed with the differing factions. We try to mandate change at an administrative level, only to see certain individuals find a way around the standards set. Clearly we need all of these pieces working together to institute any real change. But we can’t forget about supporting the teachers. They are, after all, the linchpin to our success. We can change curriculum and document new ideas until we’re blue in the face, but the teachers are the ones that have to actually change.

One of the things I’ve realized after trying to get this ball rolling in three very different schools with three very different approaches to 21st century learning, is that, when it comes to teachers, you have to start out by working with the willing. Sometimes it’s hard for school leadership to accept that you can’t get everyone on board at once. Even if you set out a mandate clearly detailing that every teacher must change their classroom practice, it doesn’t mean it happens instantaneously.

When I came on board at ISB, I was so over-enthusiastic about my position, the direction the school was heading, and the amazingly supportive leadership, that I had have a hard time reining myself in. Why can’t we get everyone on board in one year? Why can’t we have an expectation that all teachers have classroom blogs by the end of the year? Why can’t we update and adapt all curriculum plans to embed technology in one year? We really don’t have any time to waste, so it’s full steam ahead – no matter what the cost.

Unfortunately, the reality is that teachers are bombarded with expectations for all areas of their profession every day. Sure, they all know they need to “keep up” with technology, but it’s mixed in with all those other expectations we all know and love – from grading to parents to classroom management – and who has time for something that may not end up making the job any easier? And we can’t forget that every teacher has their own specialty, their own personal interests and expertise that they bring to their classroom. Do they all have to bring technology? Ultimately, I think they do – I just don’t think it all happens at the drop of a hat.

So, I recognize that I have to be a better salesman, to parade my wares more tantalizingly, to suck as many people in with my exciting and alluring advertising strategies (this perky blog included), but frankly, I’m not really sure that’s the only issue. I think teachers need to be ready, and willing, to change. Because 21st century teaching is not just about turning on the Smart Board and plugging in the laptop. It’s about changing the way you do business in your classroom. It’s about flattening those walls, taking a deep breath and jumping in – feet first. And the only way to really sell that adventure is to find a teacher who wants to buy.

Back in August, when I arrived here in Bangkok, we had a great team meeting about how to embed 21st century literacy into our classroom instruction – specifically how to change the way teachers teach. I advocated for a 3 step process:

Year 1: Work With the Willing

In the first year, connect a small cohort of teachers that are personally interested and invested in changing their classroom practice. A group of people that want to do new things in new ways, who want to try and who aren’t afraid to fail. This could be one teacher per grade level, or one per department, depending on what works best for your school. These teachers would then work very closely with the technology facilitator to embed 21st century skills into their classroom practice – not on just one project in the year, but in their daily interactions with students. They would begin to explore how multiple pieces fit together because each new project they begin will build on the previous learning. They would see how different tools can handle different tasks and how bringing all those tools together, along with thoughtful planning, higher level thinking and creativity, and engaging teaching makes a truly 21st century classroom. As a group these teachers can meet together to discuss strategies and ideas, they can be a support structure for this new adventure, and they can start planting seeds in other teacher’s minds.

The work that these teachers in these different classrooms do then becomes an example for other teachers. They showcase their projects at faculty meetings, they present at conferences, they bring new ideas to department or grade-level meetings. And the key is, because these are actual classroom teachers doing this (not just the technology facilitator who just knows how to do this stuff), their voice is so much more powerful.

Year 2: Mentor the Willing

In the second year, the teachers that changed their classroom practice in year one will become mentors to a second group of willing teachers. The same idea applies only now the teachers from year one are leading the way. Now, because there are multiple teachers adapting their classroom practice, they can work together to develop official curriculum planners, to start institutionalizing the changes they have made in their individual classrooms.

Plus, this opens up a second group of teachers for the technology facilitator to work with. Now you have 3 teachers per grade level: a teacher mentor who went through the process the year before, the teacher they’re working with, and the teacher the facilitator is working with. In most schools, that would be the whole grade level. At some schools it’s only half, or less. Either way, you have classroom teachers inspiring change in other classroom teachers.

Year 3: Bring the “less than willing” on Board

In the third year, teachers from year 1 and year 2 will now be mentoring a new teacher (again, those that are willing). The facilitator will mentor another group of teachers (can be a group of willing teachers, or perhaps a group that are mandated to change classroom practice by admin). Given that you now have 5 teachers per grade level doing new things in new ways, building off previous years work, collaborating with their other 21st century teachers, you can now begin to change common assessments, and to formalize the projects that have been developed over the years.

I’m still working on pushing this 3 step process through. I know it’s frustrating to see something so close yet so far, and I know it seems like if we could just get the technology authentically embedded (and we don’t need the teachers on board for that, do we?) into the curriculum in one fell swoop, we’d be done before we started. But teachers are special folk. If they don’t want to change, they won’t. We have to show them, we have to prove why they should. And there’s no better way to do that than with other classroom teachers sharing their success. And those successes aren’t going to happen with a technology facilitator forcing a teacher to change (as if they could, given that they’re never going to be a supervisor to other teachers). It’s going to happen when a teacher wants to change and asks for help.

So, I wonder, if we had all those initial pieces in place, and we started working with the willing, could we do it in three years? Could you change an entire school (or school division) from the ground up in three years. I think you could. In fact, I wonder if any school already has every piece in place…

Tags:  21stcentury,  internationalschool, flatclassroom, classroom, 21st century literacy, globalcitizens, collaboration, learning, creating, vision, philosophy, understanding, framework, embed, technology, curriculum, planning, development

As part of the ADE Institute a few weeks ago, my fabulous team developed a globally collaborative project (soon to be featured on the Apple Learning Interchange). Seeing as I have made my fair share of mistakes over the past year or so, and given my taste for detailed lists, I figured I could contribute a step-by-step guide to global collaborations.

These are the things I think I should do at the beginning of any globally collaborative project (not that I’ve always done them in the past, but maybe the new list will help):

Define Project Goals:
The first step to any successful collaboration is communication. Spend some time – over several days or weeks – discussing what you hope to accomplish and how you might go about completing the project. Make sure that all teachers have time to touch-base with their support personnel in school to ensure that they have the required materials or support. Think about:

• What standards do you need to meet with this project?
• What would you like students to understand?
• What are your essential questions?
• What kind of authentic task can you design for your students to demonstrate their understanding?
• What supporting activities or tasks need to be completed to help your students construct their understanding?

Develop Explicit Expectations:
From the outset clarify what the expectations are for all teachers and students involved in the project. Think about:

• Time commitments
  • Will this take 1 lesson or 12?
  • Is one lesson 45 minutes or 90?
  • How often do your classes meet?
  • Will students need to work outside of class or can everything be accomplished in class time?

• Scheduling requirements
  • When are your holidays? What is your school year (Aug – June or Jan – Dec)?
  • Do you want common due dates and times, or flexible dates?
  • Will students be required to complete specific tasks for their collaborative partners by a certain class lesson?

• Task breakdown for teachers
  • Who is responsible for what?
  • When do your tasks need to be completed?
  • Who will be relying on you to finish your work?

• Technological Requirements
  • What kinds of technology are needed to complete this project?
  • What access do teachers and students have? Are you 1:1 or do you have 1 computer per classroom?
  • What kinds of peripherals will students want to use? How can you leverage the materials you have to benefit all students (perhaps splitting the work so that the school with more access to peripherals completes different tasks)?

• Communication needs
  • Will students need to communicate in real time at any point?
  • Do your locations enable you to achieve that during the school day? What is the time difference between your time zones?
  • If you can’t connect real-time, what are the expectations for communication? Daily? Weekly?

Develop a Communication Structure:
It makes sense to have one common “home base” for your project, whether it be a wiki, or a Ning, or a blog – one space where all students and teachers will go to connect with their global partners, one place to store all assignment requirements, one place for all announcement and news, one place for all student artifacts. Items to consider when choosing your “home base”:

• Protection level
  • Does this space need to be private, protected or public – this has implications for student safety and parent notification
• Tools needed
  • What kind of things do you want students to be doing?
  • Does this project require discussion forums, or is threaded discussion by page more appropriate?
  • Are you looking for a tool that supports media uploading, or are you planning to host your media somewhere else?
  • Do you want your students to have a space that is “theirs” or do you need to keep the focus on something specific?

Determine Assessment Methods:
When students are working collaboratively across great distances, it is especially important to clarify, explicitly, at the beginning of the project, how students will be assessed, including specific assessment tools. Take time to:

• Develop criteria and rubrics
  • Be sure to post completed assessment tools on your “home base” so that all students and teachers have access to them.
• Clarify the process of how students will complete the project
  • What stages or steps must they go through to complete their project?
  • Are parts of the project going be outsourced to different schools based on their resources, location, or experience? How will this be coordinated?

Design Matters:
A good rule of thumb to keep in mind when completing a globally collaborative project is that other teachers may want to look to your completed work as an example, therefore it is essential that your page layout, navigation, and materials are as complete as possible, and easy to understand – even for non-participants. You might want to think of the “home base” as a complete artifact for the entire project – teacher planning, assessment tools, communication strategies, student works, and feedback – so that your “home base” can be a stand-alone resource for teachers around the world. Think about:

• Having an “about this project” page describing what your goals are with the project and who is participating.
• Having a “participating schools” page to coordinate the schools and students that will be collaborating.
• Having an “assignments” page to place all assignment requirements.
• Having a “students” page for all students to link to their personal online environments.
• Having a “contact us” page to give teachers, students and parents a way to contact you for further information.

What do you think? Am I missing anything?

Tags: 21stcentury, learning, global collaborations, step-by-step, guide, PD, ADE, adeasia2007, apple, ALI,

Over the past few months Justin, Dennis, Annelies, Struan, Teresa (our elementary curriculum coordinator extraordinaire) and I have been working diligently to develop our essential understandings and essential questions about 21st century literacy in order to develop a workable framework for authentically embedding technology into our core curricular units of study.

It’s been a long process, but we’ve started to lay the groundwork for the establishment of a new curriculum planning practice – one that authentically embeds technology from the beginning.

We started with developing our essential questions and enduring understandings:

Effective Learners

How do I find and use information to construct meaning and solve problems?

Students will begin to understand:

• The necessity, values, and methods of reflecting throughout the information gathering process.
• Why and how to effectively search for, evaluate, select, analyze, interpret, and synthesize appropriate information to problem solve.
• Bias influences the creation and interpretation of information.
• People use their prior knowledge to learn how to build new understandings and deal with any new technologies.

Effective Communicators/Creators

How do I effectively communicate?

Students will begin to understand:

• Purpose and audience for communication determine the appropriate media choice.
• Design and layout impact the quality and effectiveness of communications.
• People reflect on, organize, analyze, interpret, and synthesize information in order to effectively communicate and create ideas.

Effective (Global) Collaborators

How do I responsibly use information and communication to positively contribute to my world?

Students will begin to understand:

• Communication networks are powerful mediums to spread positive change or to negatively impact others.
• People use information and communication tools to learn from each other, innovate and collaboratively problem solve.
• Communication behaviors and actions impact the access and safety of users.
• Everyone is biased and that bias is based on each person’s life experiences.

Next, we took a look at the way teams plan their units and developed a framework that will help teachers understand how technology can naturally fit into their curriculum.

Our goal was not only to show the process for embedding technology, but also to ensure that teams use the backward design process in their unit planning.

We’ve broken down our framework into two stages:

Prior to the unit:

• Planning: Essential Questions and Enduring Understanding: Examining the goals and expectations for the unit so that overarching essential questions can be framed.
• Assessment Planning: Determining which tool is best for the job: Developing a summative assessment that addresses the essential questions and enduring understandings, examining the possibilities that technology can offer in a summative assessment.
• Unit Building: Backward planning, looking at the big picture: Developing the overarching framework for the unit, structuring how students will construct their understanding during the course of study.

During – After the unit:

• Practical Implementation Planning: lesson by lesson breakdown, booking resources and specialists: Ensuring that all materials will be in place for each lesson, as needed.
• Formative Assessment and Differentiation: Ensuring that the needs of all students are met throughout the course of the unit.
• Reflection: What did students learn? How do we know? What do we refine for next year? Taking time to evaluate the unit while it is still fresh.

At this point, we’re actually starting to plan units in grade 5 and grade 4 following this process. Teresa has taken the current units of inquiry and looked for a larger conceptual lens to view the topic – for example our current unit of “Australia” has been shifted to “Influence” – to help students construct overarching understandings, as opposed to staying focused on one specific content area. She then developed the essential questions and enduring understandings for the unit and presented them to the Social Studies representatives for the team.

Once we had their go-ahead for the general unit concept, Justin and I stepped in to brainstorm possible digital literacy skills that would allow students to effectively construct, and then communicate, their understanding about the topic. We created a “student sample” for the teachers to understand what the final product might look like, as well as specific teaching instructions, step-by-step guides for the students, and time and resource requirements. Our next stage is to present all of this information to the team to see what they think.

Although this process has been far more formal than I’m used to, and has taken much longer due to the large number of people involved, I can clearly see how well-planned and well-thought out this unit will be. We have individuals looking after the social studies content, the pedagogical approach, differentiation, Blooms Taxonomy, the 6 facets of understanding, technology and 21st century literacy. It just makes me realize how much is involved in curriculum planning, how much it takes to do a good job, and how important it is that unit planning is truly a collaborative process.

Tags: 21st century literacy, globalcitizens, collaboration, learning, creating, vision, philosophy, understanding, framework, embed, technology, curriculum, planning, development